*Scratch

  No!

  *Scratch *Scratch

  No! No no no. This couldn’t be happening! Mark increasingly tried to ighe itd just go to sleep, yet the more he tried to ig, the more he found himself scratg at his arm. He couldn’t stop as scale after scale was scratched free, leaving small patches of vibrant amethyst scales that glinted in the moonlight.

  Why? Why were the new scales this colour? What was going on? What was happening to him? Oh goddess, he must be being some form of freak. Mark huddled uhe bs as he wondered what the kids at school would think. What would Victoria think? Oh gods, what would his dad think when he finds out?

  Mark tossed and turned for hours as he tried to sleep without any luck. Finally, in the small hours of the m, he mao doze off. Only to be interrupted by the bring of his m arm. Slowly, Mark rolled out of bed and headed downstairs. At this point, Mark had been dressed for school for a few hours after giving up oing any sleep the night before.

  Mark quietly padded his way into the kit, giving his long sleeves a good tug to ehey covered his arms properly. Mark tried to wipe the sleep from his eyes as he slowly made his way over to the table, guided by the smell of homemade waffles. He’d only ever had waffles once before ing to live with Victoria, and those had been cooked in a toaster.

  “Good m, sweetie!!!” Victoria said as she flipped the old-style waffle iron over. Her other hahe end of the power cord as she eled her electricity into the applianbsp;

  “G’morn.” Mark mao mumble as he stared at Victoria. Mark had always adored Victoria’s scales. The way they gleamed and glistened in the m light, their shape was like perfect overpping teardrops, and they were smooth and sleek, unlike his scales. Mark hated his scales. They were coarse, rough, spiky and tough. They were the scales of his father. Sometimes, Mark couldn’t help but stare at Victoria’s scales with envy. If only he were a girl. If he were a girl, he would have gotten to stay with Victoria. If he were a girl, he might have had scales like her.

  ______________________________________________________________

  Almost with relief, Mark made his way to the er of the schoolyard field during recess. Mark liked to hang out in the er of the field by the fehere was an oak tree that grew ihe fence li formed a little alcove at the er of the property. With a little help from his cws, he had mao dig and move the soil to create a tle den for himself. A small pce where he could be alone, where he could be safe.

  Mark slipped into the den and curled up against the base of the tree as he pulled out one of his favourite books to read. It was an old book that had been passed from person to person many times. It was a small series about teenagers who were something called demigods. The librarian said he wasn’t old enough to read the series yet, but he’d always been good at reading. One of the few things his dad couldn’t make fun of him for.

  Here in his den, he was safe from the bullies as they didn’t know about it. Mark slowly rolled up his sleeves to look at his forearms. There they were, Amethyst scales. All smooth and silky like his mom’s. Scales that he had always wished that he could have. But it didn’t make sense, sure, he was a little te for his first moult, but that didn’t mean he should be ging species.

  Mark stopped for a moment to listen, hoping no one was around. He didn’t hear anyone close by for now as he rubbed at his new scales. They brought him such etion to see, yet as he looked at them, he also felt fear. What would anyone say when they discovered his scales were ing in differently? Mark had never heard of anything of the sort happening before.

  Mark’s thoughts were interrupted as he rubbed at his new scales, only for more of his old oo fke off onto the ground. How was he going to hide this? He didn’t want to be some form of freak, even if the new scales made him really happy.

  Unfortunately for him the bell for the end of recess rang out far too soon for his liking as he slowly unrollled his sleeves and made sure no one was nearby when he slowly crawled out of his den.

  ______________________________________________________________

  The rest of the day passed quickly after that, with some of Mark’s favourite subjects, like Math and Music. Mark wished that it was art css instead of Music, but he khat Art css wouldn’t be until the sed semester.

  Dihat night was rather quiet as Mark stared at his food, trying to think of ways to hide his ret ges.

  “Mark?” Victoria tilted her head as she stared at her son sitting at the table, pushing a piece of broccoli around his pte in circles

  “Mark!” Victoria repeated with more force this time

  This time, she had Mark’s attention as he looked up at her “Hmm? What is it Victoria?”

  “You’ve barely eaten. Is something wrong?”

  Mark quickly shook his head as he let down his fork. “I’m just… thinking.”

  “About?” Victoria asked with a hint of .

  “Stuff.”

  This time, Victoria looked at Mark with a slight frown. “Mark, I know you are used to living with your trash bag of a father but I promise you, if you talk to me I will listen. I won’t get mad at you or anything.”

  Mark’s expression softened as he stared down at his pte. He felt slightly guilty about not talking to Victoria, but he really didn’t want ao know about his new scales. He liked living with Victoria, and he didn’t wao worry about him row tired of him if he started to pin or talk about his problem. Every time he tried that with his dad, his dad would just get angry and tell him to ‘man up’ and to ‘stop being such a little sissy bitch’.

  “It… it’s fine, Victoria… just… thinking about… the book i’m reading.”

  Victoria looked at Mark for a sed before she let out a sigh. She khat Mark was hiding something, but she really didn’t want to force the issue. She wanted Mark to e to her when he was ready, not when she forced him to. “That’s nice, sweetie. Which book are you reading now?”

  A small smile appeared on Mark’s face as he thought about the book he was reading. Mark mao keep a smile on his face for the rest of dinner as he told Victoria all about the fantastic world of this boy named Perd his adventures across the old Uates fighting gods and all sorts of creatures. However, the smile quickly died once he returo his room and removed his shirt to ge into his pajamas for the night.

  Once again, he was greeted by the beautiful Amethyst scales that were ing in. Mark rubbed at his arm away from where the scales were ing in, only for more scales to fall away, revealing more amethyst scales, except it was on his bicep instead of his forearm this time.

  Mark stumbled as he couldn’t help but stare. Moults weren’t supposed to e in this fast, yeah he was te getting his first moult by a few years. Most draids got their first moult around 9 or 10, whereas Mark was 13 and just getting his. However, the moults took a matter of weeks, not mere days!

  Mark tried to distract himself as he y down for the night and turned off the lights. The moon was really bright tonight, almost lighting up the whole room. Mark could only stare at it as he sidered what to do about his scales before he finally drifted off to sleep.